Improved skate-fastening



of the city of Philadelphia, and State the following ,tion thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings,

of referencemarked thereon.

UNITED STATES THEODOVRE BERGNER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. `IMPROVED SKATE-FASTENING.

specification forming part ern-enters Patent No. nemen?,

To all whom z 't may concern.-

Be it known that I, THEoDoRn BERGNER,

of Pennhave invented a new and useful Im' provement in Skates; and I do hereby declare to be a full and exact descripsylvania,

and to the gnres and letters My. invention relates to that class of skates which are secured to the feet without the useof straps; and its nature consists in a novel construction of such skates, combining the important. element of a very ecient fastening with lightness, strength, and simplicityof arrangement.

. of this specification,

-.front fastening.

-- the plates,

j required thickness to amount of elasticity. these stays I provide line of the entire skate.

'understootl will nowpreed to Another'peculiarity of my improvement consists in .its marked aptitude to the production of. neatly-shaped parts, and to a graceful outmay he fully deserile the vIn order that my said invention `shoe.

f To the runner A 'of my improved skate are riveted i'n pairs the upward-extending curved Astays b'b andc c', made of sheet-steel of vthe give them a limited The upper extremity of withI converging projections @Fd-and, availing myself of the elastic property :ofthestays as a means of obtaining fafas'tening, Ifurnish each pair of stays with .a clamping-screw,

i heel-plate F-have each a pair of oblong holes e. f The front plate, E, and

'n coinciding in size and relative distance with the projections d 'nerthat the .said

d of thestays in such a manprojections will, in their unclosed Afreely enter the holes in. the

position,

i "plates, While the skate'is thus 'held upon the soleof the shoe both pairs ofstays are-coutractedbymeansoftheclamping-screwseenntil dated September 6, 1864.

l the inclined surfaces of the projections d d are rmly pressed against the corresponding inclined side of their respective openings in the plate. It will be readily seen that the inclined surfaces of the-projections d d must by this clamping action draw the stays upward until their ltop surfaces,z' t', are forcibly pressed against the outer surface of the plates in the shoe, and that an extremely rigid fastening with well-distributed surfaces of contact (of steel upon steel) is thus obtained in a very sim ple manner.

To guard against inJury tothe elastic stays from careless use of the clamping-screws I provide the rear clamping-screw with a ferrule, f,

of such length that while it'shall be .uo impediment to the amount of contraction'required 'for' a fasteningA in the shoe-plate, it yet fills thej space between the stays to such extent as to prevent injury to the latter from lcareless Y handling of thelnm pinescrew. The .forward stays, b 11"', are guarded in a like manner by a ferrule formed on the rear end of a toe-plate, g, through which the screw e passes. The front end of this toe-plate is riveted to and rests upon the forward end of the runner A, and while the screw e s erves as a rear support for the toe-plate the latter is in turnused as a guard for the screw. v

Theconstruction and operation of my improvement having thus been explained, .l desire to name as one of its main advantages the facilities which it oifers for cheap and extensive manufacture of these skates by machinery.

Although made entirely of steel, the diierent -parts of thev skate are of a favorable character for cheap production, the runner being a very plain light forging, easily drawnout and vbent into shape, while' the stays and toe-plate can be readily punched from sheet-steel of proper thickness and bent into shape. I dor however, not desire to 'limi-t myself to the described method of riveting or otherwise attaching separate stays to a runner of the shape represented iu` the drawings, as the same end can be attained by forging upward extensions upon the runner, slitting them longitudinally, and bending them into suitable shape 'for obtaining the described elastic property, and fastenling by means of the clamping-screw. g

obvious ,that a modification of my invention avoiding the use of a toe-plate may consist in providing forked extremities at both ends of a runner,curv'ing 'these forked ends upward into suitable shape for elasticity, and iurnishing them with projections and a means of clamping, as heretofore described.

vUpon practical test and comparison -I am con viuced` th at thefasteningobtained by clamp` ing the elastic stays against'steel surfaces, as described, is fer more reliabley than grasping the sole and heel on opposite sides,y as has been,

as to adapt them to obtainin'gma fastening in' the last-described man ner.

- Nhat I claim as my Invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. The described elastic stays, when forged upon the runner of the skateA or otherwise at-l tached: to the same, and when their projections d d are actuated by clamping-screws or `their equivalents, substantially es v eind for the purpose specied. A

2. The use of a ferrnle or its equivalent s 'a guard wnpon, the clamping-screws, substantially as set forth. v

.. 3..Supporting the rear end of the toe-plate upon the front clamping-screw in the manner and for the purpose described.

lfrenononn BERGNER. Witnesses:

COLEMAN SELLERS, B. FRANK LEWIS. 

